Lake Palmer aka Monk wrote:
I sense some frustration Fred. Sam could do no wrong last season in your eyes, then there was a sense of vindication after the start we had but now you're turning on him.

Sam will not be happy.

Of course Valencia and Carroll can play together, in fact on paper it's great partnership, just needs a load work on training ground.

I think the 3-5-2 suits our strengths, obvious plus in the wing backs but it allows Downing to roam with very little defensive responsibilities. it also facilitates a high pressing game, which I like.

There is a lot of frustration.  Last year he did all he could with the (fucking shite and injured) tools at his disposal.  He nearly lost me in January, but it really wasn't his fault we had half the team out and big semi coming up.

This season he has done an amazing job.  But he is frustrating me more because I want to see us get the best out of a great squad.  I am a long way from turning on him. 

If next summer we get a decent offer for carroll, flog him, and get in another couple of strikers with similar skill sets to valencia and sakho then I'll be in heaven.  If he keeps carroll but the teamsheets eery week prove that carroll is regarded as an option and not first choice then I'll be in heaven.  But if Carroll (and Nolan, of course) keep on looking like they are sam's chosen ones then I might have to say that I think another manager could take us forward better.  If we were to get rid of sam (which will probably not happen for at least 18 months) then a big reason for doing so was that we were in a position where the squad and finances made relegation practically impossible even for the likes of zola or grant or roeder to acheive.  It is precisely BFS's brilliance that means we are in a position to take a chance on someone else.

To be clear - Sam is doing a great job - my criticism is that I feel he could be doing a slightly better job.

You seem to be saying "I like 352 for exactly the same reasons I liked 442 diamond".  I would argue that, perhaps, the reason we have gone 352 is because he wants to stick with 2 up front, and he knows that this requires 352 or a 442 diamond in which both strikers are more mobile than Carroll.  Given that Sakho is missing, Cole is Shit and Zarate has been prematurely ejaculated from the squad, and given that 442 diamond has only really worked for us with Sakho and Valencia (because, as the stats prove, they work their arses to obscene degrees in a way that carroll just can't), we need to go 352.